What Else Can It Mean?
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3 NASB
Gods – OK, be very honest. As honest as you can be, of course, since your honesty will still be a function of what you believe to be true. What you believe to be true about this commandment is probably something like this: “I am not to worship any false god. I am not to bow down and serve any of those pagan gods like they do in Hinduism or Buddhism or some tribal culture.” Or you might be thinking historically. “God, the One True God, instructed His people, Israel, not to worship any of the Egyptian deities.” And all of that is probably true, but it might not be all that this commandment covers, as we shall see.
Rabbi David Fohrman notices that the word translated “gods” is really elohim, and while it can be translated “gods” (the plural of el), it also is rightly understood as “power.” In fact, there are verses in Genesis where the translation “power” or “powers” is more appropriate. In Egypt, for example, the “gods” were really regarded not as persons but as powers. They were more or less untouched by human concerns, operating like fickle natural forces. Thus, the sun and moon, the river, the dark, death, swarms, etc. were all considered “gods” but in the sense of forces that men could not control. Fohrman suggests that this commandment is not about the priority of YHVH over other “gods.” It is rather a commandment not to let any other power take priority in your life. We are not to have allegiance to any competitor of YHVH.
Suddenly it’s not about Vishnu or Buddha or some totem in your backyard. It’s about whatever controls your behavior, whatever guides your thinking, whatever provides you the reason to live. What power do you serve?
Ah, don’t start telling me that you used to serve money or fame or reputation or something so pedestrian. We all know all about those vices. No, look deeper. Look past those obvious forces that once moved you on the chessboard. Look at why you do the things you do. Recently I have been investigating my own “powers.” I am discovering how much of who I am has been governed by some very old messages, voices that remind me that I am only as good as my last performance, that I am valuable when others say I am, that I am loved for what I do, not for just being me. The power that controls me is the power of inadequacy, of unworthiness, and I find that I am often either fighting against this force or being victimized by it. It has taken the place of the grace of God on many occasions, and the results have been tragic and humiliating. Pagan idols? No, not an issue. Money, fame, honor? No, not really. Feeling worthy? Yes, that force is at the heart of me, and it is demonic in its grip.
Have you broken the commandment? I guess it depends on how deeply you look. What do you find at the bottom of your well?
Topical Index: gods, elohim, power, Exodus 20:3
Skip, I’m touched by your “god” battle that you shared in today’s post. I, too, fight the same battle of feeling inadequate. I discovered it through therapy I went through over a year ago after my divorce. I learned that I felt unlovable, unworthy, un a lot of things. It comes out in down moods, jealousy, and other attributes. It’s something I’ve had to really work at and the battle is no where near over. I often cast that care on God – often, multiple times an hour on bad days. Your posting today is helping me see this through totally different lens that I never looked through – or knew to look through – before. Thank you!
Thank you, once again, Skip for being so transparent. I believe the Father is revealing Himself to many of us these days in a way we never knew Him before. As we submit our hearts to Him, honestly lifting up our inadequacies, He is showing us through His goodness, what it truly means to be His sons and daughters, where we’ve stumbled in the past, and how He carried us through by His grace and mercy. I praise Him in these times of testing and trials! He is drawing us closer to Him and revealing His “power” in us in order that we may be overcomers! He meets us where we are on the journey. And what a journey it has been! I bless you in His Name. You have been such an encouragement to me as I watch your journey. Shalom Shalom!
What shoves me around? What causes me to lie, hide or pretend? What sends me into my bushes or keeps me in my ditch? These are the things that are keeping me from the love of God, but I am choosing them over Him. Why?
Identity. What do I believe about who I am (or am not)? I have boiled it down to here so far. Who do I believe God is? What am I believing about those around me? What am I believing about love? These belief systems create my paradigm, my actual creed I live by and make all my choices from. We are all hard-wired for religion, but what I don’t think most of us realize is that we are constantly redefining that religion based upon what happened to us (or what we believe happened to us) yesterday. This isn’t about Buddha or Christ: this is about what frightened me or forced me or convinced me or seduced me. These are the things I bring my flowers of appeasement to the altar of, today. Whatever shoves me around is what I have allowed to convince me of who I am, but I cannot be shoved if I offer no resistance TO something. It has taken me a while to realize that something only has influence over me if I have CHOSEN to look to it for identity. If I do not believe that that force holds any of my identity, it has no power over me.
I am created to be defined by whatever surrounds me: whatever has influence in my life. I am also supposed to learn from experiences, but I am not helpless. I still get to choose what those experiences MEAN (this is the paradigm) to me. The experience of my inadequacy (famine in my land) can either drive me farther from home, or into the arms of my Father. Who I am is determined by what DIRECTION the forces of life shove me toward. If I resolutely turn my face toward home, those forces can actually even be used to get me there faster (i.e. disaster, or ‘hitting bottom’), but I have to quit allowing those forces to convince me that I need to face and pay attention to (serve) them. I must turn my back to anything that sends the message that I am anything less than a child of the King. And run!
I feel your pain. Coming out of sales management and an environment that if the team did not meet the numbers, I had to make it happen. I feel like I have been coming out of some kind of “cult” training. You’ll appreciate this Skip – the mantra – “You’re only as good as the last deal you brought in!” The power of the need for approval in the business world is sickening. That is why I think sales people are some of the most oppressed – especially when all the pressure to perform gets put on them for the livelihoods of all the rest of the staff. Then you get heads of companies now that track sales people and where they are at all times! If that isn’t cultish I don’t know what is but it goes on in business everyday. I still wake up every now and then from a nightmare where I didn’t meet the numbers. Then I say, “Thank you God, I don’t do that anymore.”
Dana,
I understand what you mean. I just left a sales position revolving around numbers, numbers, numbers. Nature of the business. Performance was always on display. It kind of got to the dilemma undertakers have to deal with: I am successful when people die. Mine was down to convincing people to give me money even though I was trained to see that I was providing a service to them. Pressure to mold my identity around how many people I could convince to part with their money.
I’m out from that scene now. I’m more of a doer. I can sweep a floor and enjoy it seeing the result quite plainly and that I actually did something worthwhile. There’s a lot to this subject. I’m just snipping off the tips of a load of stuff.
I think Skip burrowed down to a basic essence of the matter. Being set free is more than a quaint saying. It deals with raw realities we have become blind to in our lives. Waking up takes focused effort and an orientation to a new self position. Sleeping vs awake. There is a transition required that I know I fail to engage very often, if at all. I usually take a shower twice a day, morning and evening, for cleansing purposes. I’m getting in to the habit of verbalizing the shema twice daily as well. It, too, has a cleansing effect.
I know I am in need of checking out the bottom of my well a little more closely.
Hi Michael, thanks for your feedback. It has been difficult coming out from that place. I’ve had to let the Lord reveal all the ways it gave me false value/worth. If it were up to some businesses, your identity would be in them and their product lines (not all companies though). I will say, that my ego was part of this. We were a young company that took off and I was a young manager. So, having success at a young age, I easily got swept up into those parts of me, as Skip would say, by the yetzer hara. Oh, if we could have more wisdom in our 20’s! But God uses everything. Even though I screwed up a lot and was beaten down by it, God has still used it for His purposes. Letting the Lord untangle all this stuff can be painful but it is so worth it. He brings true freedom.
Good morning all! bro Skip love today post, we wrestle not against flesh and blood , but against spirit and principalities in high places,the ones that make us feel that we are not good enough, we give these gods the power to let us feel unloved,insecure and vulnerable, we all have to hold on to the Rock which is solid it will never move ,unless we decide to go after the other. God’s!
The enemy works at both ends of the scale.
Sometimes he may subdue us by our own sense of inadequacy.
Other times he may entice us by our own sense of power.
Both are deceptions.
I’ll be sharing this. Your blogs are a real help to me. Many thanks!
Wow this is profound! I’ve been contemplating on my “powers” all day since reading this.
OOOhh what a revelation about the powers! Thank you Skip..I have the mechanical translation of Genesis in Hebrew and indeed Elohim is translated as Powers. I have been thinking about it all day and looked at my own life..it is a new deep revelation about my own false gods or what power -s are controlling me and in what areas, especially emotional..I really needed to see it..This is now going to be a long time if not my whole life thinking and handling every day with this and being conscious about Thou shalt have no others gods before me..it has a very different meaning now.
“We are not to have allegiance to any competitor of YHVH.”
Our allegiance is to Him, and Him alone, as He is the Almighty Creator Elohim, from Whom this commandment comes, so to Him only will our allegiance be.
We/I should not have any other power / authority in my /our lives being exalted/lifted up above Him, just as Yosev is Second-in-Command after Pharaoh, was given all authority and honour, he is not above Pharaoh who alone sat on the throne, over-seeing every affair in the nation.
Any other allegiance would be breaking YHWH’s commandment. Food for thought!